12-29 to 1-7-43
With the turn to the New Year, lots of action around the map, particularly around Darwin.
But first, let's wade into the nightmare that is China
China:
My lines around Kienko, which have held for a couple months, finally collapsed. A path opened from Sian into the Chungking plain via the north, so it's happened: The plains are invested.
He also had broken into the plains from the south, though there I still hold all the roads. It doesn't matter that much, as I'm now pretty much down to Chengtu, Chungking, and pockets of units all over the place.
So we are in Phase III: The end in China
I do still hold Kunming to Paoshan, and hope to hold it awhile. That's the only area I am flying supplies into.
I foresaw the collapse in China, but still sucks to see it happen. Greyjoy made me pay for every mistake, so he did a great job on the land campaign.
Battle of Bathurst Island:
My initial attempts to bring supplies to Darwin resulted in a sharp action off Bathurst Island.
First, I was tardy in my CAP, and Betties from Timor (I think), sank PENSACOLA with 2 TTs. OUCH!
Next turn, my remaining TF (LOUISVILLE, ACHILLES, LEANDER, and severa DDs) were met with an IJN force consisting of 4 old CLs, and about 8 DDs, but mostly older ones.
In surface action, LOUISVILLE was heavily damaged, but nothing sank on my end. We sank a MINEKAZE class DD, and heavily damaged 2 others that were finished off by subs. Alot of Netties sortied though, and I had CAP from Darwin; over 50 IJN planes were shot down, mostly by F4F and P-40E.
So, we lost a CA, another heavily damaged (but will live), and in return we sank 3 older DDs, and shot down 50 planes. Overall, a slight IJN victory, but I did manage to run a ton of convoys in.
Darwin:
So we lost the battle, but won the campaign, as several convoys are unloading supplies, fuel, units at Darwin. We shall soon have a major base there, prior to a move on Selaroe and Babo.
The IJN has alot of ships around this area; I hesitate to commit BBs, because he can see them coming through Torres Strait. For now, I just have cruisers. We'll see when I make a serious move.
